The Reserve Bank of India has appointed a fourth Deputy Governor on Wednesday. Viral V. Acharya a New York University’s Economics professor has been appointed for this task. According to a statement by the government, he has been appointed for a three year term. Previously, this position was held by Urjit Patel who took up the role in September.
The portfolios division is handled by the RBI, who internally decide different policies. Urjit Patel handled Monetary Policy which is presently taken care by R. Gandhi, which will now be taken over by Acharya. S.S. Mudra takes care of the banking sector supervision and N.S. Vishwanathan is the third Deputy Governor who handles banking regulation.
Acharya is a professor at the Stern School of Business at the New York University. His resume and papers show his interest in corporate finance, credit risk, asset pricing and regulation of the banks. He also has been the member of the Committee of Financial Sector Legislative Reforms Commission in India and has also been part of International Advisory Board of Securities and Exchange Board of India.
Acharya has often praised Raghuram Rajan for his works. He once said, “Raghu has been a great source of inspiration for me.” He is a strong follower and advocate of central bank independence and argued for the central bank being democratically accountable, and also operationally independent of political influence.
